So in case you missed the underlying attitude of old-school in basically all of my preceding posts, let me lay it out for ya.
I am a firm believer in what the Bible says. Every last word of it. I don't think that we necessarily have to abide by all the rules that were set out in Deuteronomy and Numbers, but I do think that the Word of the Lord is His gift to us, and that His will is written there on the pages. I think that the way to come to know Him intimately is to spend time talking to Him, and reading what He wrote. We often try to find an easy way out of that, but honestly, I know that the more time I spend in the Bible, the closer and more in tune with Jesus I feel.
The main point of this post though is to talk about the roles of men versus the roles of women, biblically speaking. I know that we live in an 'enlightened' age where women are capable of doing all that men can, but I don't think that women are supposed to be the same as men. I think that God designed us to complement (not complete) each other. There is a lot of evidence for this to be found in the Bible, and most girls don't really seem to like what I have to say on this subject. In that case, I'd like to ask why God made man first, and said "It is not good for man to be alone, I will make a helper who is just right for him" (Gen 2:18). Right there, in the second chapter of Genesis, God laid out why he created woman. To help man and provide companionship. Also, if you've ever been to a really back-country wedding in the past fifty years, you've heard the passage on marriage from Ephesians 5:21-33...in case you haven't, I'll put it here for you :)
And further, submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. For wives, this means submit to your husbands as to the LORD. A husband is the head of his wife as Christ is head of the church. He is the Savior of his body, the church. As the church submits to Christ, so you wives should submit to your husbands in everything. For husbands, this means love your wives as Christ loved the church. He gave up His life for her, to make her holy and clean, washed by the cleansing of God's word. He did this to present her to himself as a glorious church without a spot or wrinkle. Instead, she will be holy and without fault. In the same way, husbands ought to love their wives as they love their own bodies. For a man who loves his wife actually shows love for himself. No one hates his own body, but feeds it and cares for it, just as Christ cares for the church. And we are members of His body. As Scriptures say, a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one. This is a great mystery, but it is an illustration of the way Christ and the church are one. So again, each man must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.
Now I do not think that this constitutes grounds for a wife to never speak or point out her husband's sins, or for a husband to lord his authority over his wife. Both are subject ultimately to Christ's authority, and must love Him first.
But this idea does raise an interesting idea in the dating scene, which I've read quite a lot about lately...if this is the way that marriage is intended to be, should it apply to dating too? Do empowered Christian women have to wait for a guy to ask them out? No, but should they? Yes. Because to set an example of usurping a man's authority and leadership in dating, which is for the purpose of deciding whether you should get married, will only lead to a continual struggle for that power in marriage.
Go check out this series on Biblical Dating. http://www.boundless.org/2005/articles/a0001401.cfm It's from the same folks that wrote the Girl's Guide to Marrying Well.
What, you didn't have time to read that already? But...I have so much free time in summer! Which is a week away from over, but I'm pumped about that for once. Life starts back when school does, which brings lots of distractions, but also lots of opportunities to serve God and glorify Him.
Love God. Love people.
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